


Lord, Don't Let Me Break This (Let Me Hold You Lightly)

by obscureenthusiast



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: B'Elanna and Seven are both notably very bad at realizing they have feelings for each other, B'Elanna and Tom broke up because they both realized they're bi and that they can do better, F/F, Kes is alive and on the ship, Love Confessions, The EMH will not be teaching Seven how to Person, because fuck you Voyager writers I'm gonna make soup out of your kneecaps, but I'm sure they'll figure it out, that's Kes's job now sorry buddy, there are aliens and caves and magic rocks what more can I give you
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-16 22:53:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20610686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obscureenthusiast/pseuds/obscureenthusiast
Summary: When Voyager stops at a planet for some much-needed shore leave and supplies, they may have gotten more than they bargained for. Strange caves, sacred to the planet's people, offer a curiosity that Janeway doesn't want to pass up... which means B'Elanna and Seven have work to do.But when you live in close quarters on a ship like Voyager there's always going to be gossip, drama, and problems. Getting close to people you want to be close to can be as hard as avoiding those you don't want anywhere near you. It's about balance.B'Elanna wasn't ever all that good at balancing, come to think of it.





	Lord, Don't Let Me Break This (Let Me Hold You Lightly)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to the Star Trek Femslash Big Bang!!

Sometimes it felt like they were finding new planets every other week. Granted, B’Elanna knew that wasn’t _actually_ the case, but where were all these Delta Quadrant species _coming _from? Was the Alpha Quadrant as densely packed with civilization? Maybe all it took was the strangeness of new worlds to make it seem novel to be finding so many.

Today, they’d come in contact with a world called “Olruvis” by its people, and Janeway had wasted no time in offering a trade deal, scoring the crew some much-needed time off the ship. The holodeck was alright, but _real_ sunlight? That was a coveted resource.

Granted, B’Elanna was at this moment stuck in her skeleton-staffed engine room making repairs. Because she’s the “chief” and “her crew needs R&R” or something like that. It had made sense to her at the time that she was talking to the captain about it, about nine hours ago.

“Don’t worry about me, captain, I’ll just wait until the first group gets back from shore leave before taking mine!”

Idiotic words. Absolutely stupid.

Right at this point, B’Elanna felt every shred of bitterness in her body growing closer and closer to the surface, compounding each time she had to rewire this console. She’d done it two times already, and she was quickly realizing that she may have to do it a third time.

She was so deep in her own frustration that she didn’t even notice that the doors had opened and closed and that there was someone standing right behind her until:

“That’s not right.” Seven’s curt tone sliced through the air.

B’Elanna jumped, spinning on her heel and just barely managing to keep her hands at her sides (“No punching, Lanna,” her father’s voice echoed at her from memories long-ingrained).

“Is it not?” B’Elanna asked, her tone derisive as she faked a smile, narrowing her eyes at Seven.

Seven seemed nonplussed, her eyes gazed coolly over the console’s tangled wires and she pointed as she answered what B’Elanna had meant as a completely sarcastic question.

“That wire should be attached there,” she raised an eyebrow, “It appears it was mislabelled during maintenance.”

B’Elanna’s jaw tightened and she stepped back from the console and waved a hand invitingly to Seven, her own Klingon stubbornness too strong for her to follow the directions when they were given in a _tone_ like… like Seven was explaining this all to just a rowdy, unmindful child.

Seven’s eyes looked B’Elanna up and down curiously, before she stepped forward and started to fix the console, her deft fingers making short work of the task.

B’Elanna crossed her arms, chewing on the inside of her cheek for a moment before attempting some small talk, hoping the diversion would chase away some of her negativity.

“So, why aren’t you on shore leave?” she asked, and she nearly winced at the way the words sounded as they hit the air.

She didn’t mean to sound so annoyed. So accusatory. 

Seven’s hands hesitated a moment, then continued working at a slightly slower pace. Her voice sounded almost hesitant:

“I do not require it.”

B’Elanna snorted, rolling her eyes, “Sure.”

Seven tilted her head to look at B’Elanna, “And why are you not on shore leave?”

“I was just wondering the same thing,” B’Elanna grumbled, tightening her crossed arms and sighing, “I was trying to be a good chief so I let almost everyone else go first. I’ve got my skeleton crew making repairs.”

Seven seemed surprised by this, her head tilted a little more and her eyes grew thoughtful as she looked at B’Elanna.

“That was… kind of you. I’m sure your crew will appreciate your actions.”

B’Elanna smirked, laughing a little bitterly, “Well, I’m more than just the hardass in the engine room. Much to everyone’s surprise.”

Seven turned her gaze back to the now-finished console as she carefully moved the panel back into place and turned it on. The machine whirred to life and B’Elanna stepped forward and hit a few keys to initiate a systems check. When that came back clean, she glanced at Seven, a tug in her stomach urging her to thank the blonde. And maybe apologize for her rudeness.

Instead, though, what came out of her mouth was:

“Well, I guess since that’s finally fixed I should ask you what you needed.”

If Seven noticed B’Elanna’s curt tone, she didn’t acknowledge it. She merely took a breath and answered in her usual straightforward manner.

“The captain has asked me to investigate some strange readings that Ensign Kim discovered in Olruvis’s cave systems, but I will require some assistance adjusting the sensor array.”

B’Elanna felt her brows pulling together in a frown and she tilted her head slightly, “You don’t need my help to do that.”

_Okay_, maybe that sounded more rude than she meant it, but it was the truth. Seven didn’t need help to adjust the sensor array. It took slightly longer with only one person, but it could be done. And… well, frankly, over the last year that Seven had been on Voyager, the ex-borg had seemed to prefer doing things alone.

Seven’s eyes averted and she sucked in a quick breath, and B’Elanna was shocked to see slight embarrassment coloring her cheeks.

“I was… attempting to act on some advice given to me by Kes,” Seven admitted, finally looking back over to meet B’Elanna’s eyes, “She suggested that I would be best served during this shore leave if I attempted to socialize with other crew members.”

B’Elanna didn’t laugh. She _didn’t_. She was very, very certain of it.

She may have… _snorted_ a little. But it wasn’t a laugh.

Seven reddened even more and stood up straight, her shoulders rolling back as she spoke, tersely:

“But as I can see you’re busy, I’ll fix the sensor array on my own.”

And Seven turned sharply on her heel to begin walking away and B’Elanna felt a wave of guilt rush through her, pushing her forward and forcing words out of her mouth before she knew what she was doing.

“Hey, wait, Seven you don’t need to…” B’Elanna started, but drifted off as Seven turned to look back at her and she realized she didn’t know what she could say to make this situation better.

“I mean,” B’Elanna started again, taking a step back from Seven as she realized how close the two were standing, “I’ll… help you out,” she cracked a smile and rolled her eyes, “If only to keep Kes off your back, you know?”

Seven looked B’Elanna up and down and seemed to consider her words for a moment or two and for a moment B’Elanna worried that the borg would turn away and continue out of Engineering. 

“If it’s not too much trouble for you…” Seven began.

“It’s really not,” B’Elanna assured her, gesturing behind herself at the panel that Seven had just fixed, “That was kind of the last thing I had on my to-do list, so,” she waved a hand to the door, “lead the way!”

Seven nodded slowly and turned, pausing just a moment to allow B’Elanna to fall into step beside her before heading out of the engine room. 

***

Seven studied the readouts on the screen in front of her and tried to stay focused on the task at hand.

Of course, focusing was rather difficult when B’Elanna was in the room. The half-Klingon was… well, she was the type of person whose natural charisma was strong enough that _anyone_ would have trouble focusing on anything but her.

Granted, usually B’Elanna’s equally strong, opinionated nature made interacting with her a more balanced experience. Her charm was strong but her sharp words still stung enough to distance people from her. 

Today, though, she seemed to be trying harder to keep her tone under wraps, and Seven wondered if this was because of what had happened with Tom Paris and the subsequent termination of their romantic relationship. Perhaps B’Elanna was somehow trying to amend the actions she’d taken a few months ago.

Not that it was any of Seven’s business. She reminded herself of this as she flipped to a new section of the sensor array and began rattling off numbers for B’Elanna to input into her console.

Seven had talked to Kes a few times about B’Elanna. About how frustrating it was to be around her and how it seemed no matter what Seven said she couldn’t please her. 

And how Seven, despite her better judgement, _wanted_ to please her.

Kes had smiled a little, in that sly way that Seven had come to recognize as well-knowing amusement. The type of smile that meant Kes was aware of something Seven wasn’t.

And, naturally, Kes had been unwilling to tell Seven what it was she found funny. She’d merely continued to smile, suggesting in a mild tone:

“If you want to get to know B’Elanna, maybe you should just ask her to help you with something? A project in the astrometrics lab, maybe?”

So… here they were. When the captain had called her, Seven’s mind had jumped to Kes’s advice and she’d told herself that she’d merely ask the computer whether B’Elanna was still on-duty. She had assumed it was a fordrawn conclusion that the Chief of Engineering would have already delegated tasks to allow for her own shore leave.

But B’Elanna was here. Another odd moment of apparent softness (although it had crossed Seven’s mind that perhaps B’Elanna was merely attempting to avoid Mr. Paris). 

The screen in front of Seven blinked with a new message and she blinked, bringing her mind back to the present as she scanned the incoming data from the sensor array. 

“Interesting,” Seven said, tilting her head as she read.

B’Elanna walked over, leaning close to look at the data herself, clearly curious and trying not to show it.

“Are those bio signatures from the planet?”

Seven tapped the screen to adjust one of the parameters, focusing in on the cave system itself.

“It’s unclear,” she said slowly, “It would seem whatever Ensign Kim has found contains a unique makeup.”

From beside her, B’Elanna sighed a little, nodding thoughtfully, “So, what I’m hearing is this shore leave is about to turn more ‘science project’ than planned?”

Seven frowned at B’Elanna, unsure how to respond to her sarcastic tone, “I am sure Captain Janeway would excuse you from this ‘science project’ if you requested.”

B’Elanna scoffed, shrugging and stepping back from the console with another sigh, “Well, it’s not like I have any other big plans.”

***

So, the scans looked weird. Granted, B’Elanna was more engineer than scientist on any given day, but she could still tell that these readings were completely unlike anything they had encountered, and certainly unlike anything that could be found on Earth or anywhere known in the Alpha Quadrant. 

The caves that Harry had discovered were alive with something that didn’t read as organic, but didn’t read as just rocks, either. And, suffice to say that the captain really, _really_ wanted to find out exactly what it was that was happening down there. She had told B’Elanna and Seven to come down to the planet and get tricorder readings. There was already (supposedly) a team waiting for them there.

So, while everyone else was enjoying their shore leave, B’Elanna got to beam into a cave filled with potentially living rocks and check it all out. Fantastic. Wonderful. Exactly what she had wanted out of this trip.

Tromping down into the caves, she tried to remind herself that this would probably be nothing and that she would be free to go and do whatever she liked just as soon as this was over. 

The caves cooled as she and Seven descended, and B’Elanna glanced over to the blond as they walked, unsure whether to break the silence.

She settled on just making an observation.

“Janeway sure seemed excited.”

Seven’s eyebrow raised and she nodded slowly, “She is intrigued by the possibilities this discovery poses, no doubt.”

B’Elanna scoffed, looking at Seven and unsure whether she was joking (she had never known Seven of Nine to “joke” before, but she supposed there was a first for everything). 

“What possibilities could a bunch of rocks hold?”

Seven tilted her head a little, “What are dilithium crystals if not ‘a bunch of rocks’?”

B’Elanna bristled a little, “Okay, yeah, you’ve made your point,” she grumbled.

Seven _did_ have a good point. B’Elanna had simply let the exhaustion of being kept from her shore leave cloud her better judgement. _Obviously_ these were more than “a bunch of rocks”. 

She didn’t know why it was so easy for Seven of Nine to make her feel inadequate. B’Elanna had proven her abilities over and over again but all it took was one sentence from Seven to make her feel… feel…

Like she was back at Starfleet Academy being told off for speaking too harshly. 

Hell, why did she even _care_ what Seven thought? 

As they entered the main cavern, B’Elanna forced herself to swallow her pride and muttered out a swift apology.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap,” she said, though she knew her tone made her sound insincere, “I was ju-”

“_Afternoon, ladies_!”

B’Elanna cut herself off and snapped her gaze over to the other side of the cavern, where…

No.

No, it couldn’t be true.

Tom Paris was grinning and waving excitedly. Harry was at his side, looking about as enthused as B’Elanna felt.

She didn’t realize that she’d stopped in her tracks until she saw Seven walking ahead of her, heading for Tom and Harry without hesitation.

B’Elanna forced her feet to move again and started a mantra in her head, words that repeated to the beat of her footsteps (in something that sounded suspiciously like her father’s voice).

_Don’t be rude. Don’t be rude. Don’t be rude. Don’t be_-

“So you’re the poor saps who got roped into this, huh?” Tom asked, with a touch too much satisfaction in his tone.

“We were the ‘poor saps’ still on duty, so what does that say about you, Tom? Vacation not fun anymore?” B’Elanna snapped back, her eyebrows raising. 

Tom snorted, “Well, Harry and I were the ones to make the discovery, so we figured we should see it through to the end.”

Harry nodded, “Yep,” he sighed, not sounding at _all_ convincing.

B’Elanna looked back at Tom and took a breath, “Well, we’ve got it handled. You can go.”

“No thanks, we’re good here,” Tom said, too quickly.

B’Elanna almost yelled at him, but she held back, raising her eyebrows and squaring her shoulders.

“You misunderstand, Lieutenant Paris, I said you could go.”

“Don’t try to pull rank, B’Elanna, because first of all, we’re the same rank, and second of all, you’re better than that.” Tom said, ticking off his first and second points on his fingers.

“I’m better than _you_, but that doesn’t mean not I’m above ordering you to get your ass out of this cave.”

Tom took a breath and stepped backwards, raising his hands in a placating gesture.

“I’m not here to step on your toes, B’Elanna,” he said, smiling a little.

“And yet somehow you managed to, anyway!” B’Elanna said, her voice cheerful with false enthusiasm as she stepped around him and continued to the far wall of the cave.

She could hear Seven, Tom, and Harry talking behind her back but she inhaled a sharp breath and simply grabbed her tricorder to begin scanning the cave. 

It had been five months since she and Tom had… well, “broken up” was a bit of an understatement. “Explosive destabilization” was more like it. Messy and uncomfortable and loud and the _whole ship knew_, which was simultaneously horrible but also the littlest, tiniest bit okay just because that made explaining things a whole lot easier.

She couldn’t fathom why Janeway had allowed him to assign himself to this mission, the captain had to know that it would make working a hell of a lot worse. 

At least Harry was here to distract him.

B’Elanna glanced back behind herself and saw that Harry and Tom were now on the other side of the cave, directly opposite her, while Seven stood in the center of the space, looking up and turning on her heel very slowly, taking in her surroundings.

The cave was lit only dimly by rows of some kind of soft, almost bioluminescent, lanterns that gave the whole area a bluish glow. It was dreamlike, B’Elanna supposed (if only Tom wasn’t there). 

But Seven… 

Usually stoic and hardened and blunt, in this light Seven looked… Soft and tired. And B’Elanna could swear that for the first time since she’d met the ex-borg, Seven looked wistful. 

It lasted for just a moment, though, before Seven’s back straightened and she strode purposefully over to where B’Elanna was standing (and B’Elanna did her best to pretend that she hadn’t just been staring). 

“I lent them my tricorder since they didn’t have any away-team supplies with them when they beamed down,” Seven explained.

“Not unless Hawaiian shirts count as ‘supplies’,” B’Elanna snorted.

She thought she saw a slight smile tugging at the edge of Seven’s lips, but she wasn’t sure if she imagined it or not.

For the next half-hour, she and Seven worked on their side of the cavern to scan the cave and collect soil samples. They’d been specifically instructed by the Olruvians not to remove any stones, or even _touch_ the walls in these parts of the caves, as it was a sacred site. Apparently the dark, obsidian-like stones that made up the walls of this cavern were believed to be imbued with pseudo-magical properties. 

B’Elanna didn’t know about _magic_, but she wasn’t about to go pissing off any locals at this point. Magic or no magic, the stones here _did_ give off strange readings, so maybe there was something to the legends.

So, as they finished up with their side, B’Elanna tucked her tricorder away and turned around to call out to Tom and Harry across from them.

“You two finished yet?” 

Harry turned on his heel, smiling a little as he started to walk toward them, “I think so. As long as--”

It happened quickly. Harry’s foot caught on slight divot in the stone floor and he started tripping forward and Tom instinctively reached out to catch him as he walked alongside him. As Tom pulled Harry back to his feet, though, he unbalanced himself and started to fall backwards into the wall behind him. 

B’Elanna’s lips started to form the words “Watch yourself!”, a slight laugh upturning her lips before everything went wrong.

Tom’s back hit the wall and he _screamed_.

It was a small fall. It shouldn’t have hurt more than a sore ass and a bruised ego. But Tom’s scream cut through the air and B’Elanna could swear the sound alone cut into her like knives.

B’Elanna’s smile dissipated and she sprinted forward even as Tom stopped screaming, Harry snatching him by the front of his shirt and pulling him away from the wall. 

Tom crumpled into Harry’s arms just as B’Elanna reached them. 

“What the hell happened? What was that?” B’Elanna asked.

Her heart was racing, her blood boiling. She glanced at the wall, searching for signs of something that could have hurt Tom.

There was no blood. Tom didn’t look injured, but he was shaking and sweating and _weak_. 

Harry shrugged at her helplessly. He was still holding onto Tom. 

“I don’t know,” he said under his breath, already tapping his combadge to contact the ship.

B’Elanna growled, stepping closer to the cave wall and leaning in to study it, her brows creasing.

_Goddamnit_, why hadn’t he just stayed on shore leave? Why did he have to go and get hurt?

She could hear Harry talking to Voyager behind her, but she was so focused on the black stone of the cave (and on her own jumbled train-of-thought over all the dumb reasons Tom had stayed down here) that it took Seven’s voice saying her name to snap her out of her thoughts.

“Lieutenant Torres, grab the soil samples. We should head to the surface so Voyager can beam us up,” the Borg said flatly, “Mr. Paris, can you walk?”

B’Elanna turned around and saw him nodding numbly, though he still seemed weak, and he was leaning on Harry heavily. Seven’s eyes glanced over to her and she tilted her head.

“Are you coming, B’Elanna?”

“I…” B’Elanna started, glancing over her shoulder at the wall. 

There still wasn’t a single sign of what had hurt Tom. 

“Did you take tricorder readings of Tom’s injuries?” she asked, suddenly, looking back to Seven.

Seven frowned, “Of course, I attempted to take readings. But there were no physical injuries.”

B’Elanna nodded as Seven’s statement confirmed what she’d suspected. She looked back at the blank wall thoughtfully, grabbing for the laser cutter in the side pocket of her uniform. 

“B’Elanna, I don’t think it’s wise to--”

She waved away Seven’s statement, muttering, “I’m not gonna touch it, I just want to test something.”

“_B’Elanna_,” Seven repeated, her voice growing stern.

B’Elanna knelt down by the stone wall, ignoring the Borg. She flipped open her tricorder and started scanning the wall as she brought the laser cutter’s beam to meet the stone.

She expected it to draw energy from the beam, the way it had drawn energy from Tom. She expected the laser cutter to do no damage to the wall, or for the cutter’s power source to become too depleted to work. She expected a lot of things.

B’Elanna did _not_ expect a jolt to run through the laser cutter, up her arm, and through her body like an electric shock. She jumped back in surprise, gasping.

Before she could catch her breath, though, something hit her from above, blacking out her vision in one sudden crash.

***

Seven readjusted B’Elanna in her arms, moving quickly up the tunnel to the surface. The half-Klingon was a heavy, dead weight. 

B’Elanna mumbled a little as Seven’s adjustments shook her, her brow furrowing and her hands fidgeting where they were wrapped around Seven’s neck and shoulders. Her dark eyes were unfocused as she said, in a slightly clearer voice than her previous mumblings:

“You can put me down, I feel fine.”

Seven’s jaw tightened, “You are not fine.”

“Seven, slow down!” Harry called from behind, and she could hear he was out of breath.

Seven didn’t slow down. 

B’Elanna had been unconscious for too long, and with the way her eyes seemed to drift around the tunnel, she was still dazed. 

Seven had _warned her_, had she not? She had warned B’Elanna not to try the laser cutter on the stone wall, especially after they had been given specific instructions not to touch it. 

Granted, the fact that a piece of rock had fallen from the ceiling did appear to be a coincidence. Possibly caused by the loudness of Mr. Paris’s screams, or maybe just the slow decay of time. Either way, if B’Elanna had simply _listened_, she wouldn’t have been sitting in that spot when the rock had fallen. 

Seven reached the mouth of the cave and only then did she gently set B'Elanna down to stand on her own feet, although she kept one arm wrapped tightly around the shorter woman's waist to make sure she didn't fall. 

B'Elanna shoved against Seven's hand, shaking her head a little and stepping away, "Stop. I'm fine. I'm oka-"

Seven jumped forward and reaffirmed her hold on B'Elanna as the half-Klingon stumbled, catching her before she could fall. B’Elanna looked at her with surprise, but didn’t try to push her away again.

By now Harry and Tom had finally reached the mouth of the cave, as well. Tom was starting to look slightly more aware of himself, but the arm around Harry's shoulders hadn't moved and both men were still holding onto one another closely.

Seven tapped her combadge, speaking hurriedly:

"Seven of Nine to Voyager. Four to beam up, two injured."

She took a last look at B’Elanna just before the transporter took hold of them, her brows furrowed in concern for the other woman. 

In a blink, though, everything became nothing. Seven felt nothing but the soft tug, the sort of fuzzy sensation of falling, of the transporter beam. Before everything once more reformed around her. 

She was still hanging onto B’Elanna, and she gently offered help as they stepped down from the transporter pad. 

The doors opened and Captain Janeway rushed into the room, her expression grave. Kes followed close at the captain’s heels, a medical tricorder in her hand. 

“Seven, status report, what happened down there?” Janeway asked, even as Kes started scanning B’Elanna. 

Seven swallowed, forcibly keeping her voice level, “We were in the caves. Mr. Paris stumbled and his back hit the wall-”

“It was like hitting an electrified fence, captain,” Tom cut in, glancing at Janeway and letting out a low sigh, “But it was _cold_. Like it could sap the warmth right out of you.”

Kes frowned and stepped away from B’Elanna to scan Tom, her face scrunched up with concentration.

Seven cleared her throat a little, adding, “Lieutenant Torres attempted to examine the wall. She was hit by a falling piece of the cave’s ceiling before she could learn anything.”

B’Elanna grimaced, holding up a hand and saying, in a low voice, “The wall shocked me, too. Right before the rock fell.”

Seven’s frown deepened and she could see Captain Janeway straighten, her forehead creasing as her eyebrows raised in surprise.

“You touched the wall?”

B’Elanna shook her head a little, though from the way her face contorted with the action, Seven could tell the action probably exacerbated her pain. 

“I had a laser cutter. I thought it would drain the energy cells the way it drained Tom, but-”

“B’Elanna, you had specific instructions not to touch the stones in that cave and not to try to remove them,” Janeway said firmly, cutting off B’Elanna’s words.

B’Elanna’s expression darkened, her jaw setting stubbornly as she bristled at Janeway’s statement.

“I wasn’t trying to remove them,” she said pointedly, “I was trying to figure out what it did to Tom!”

Janeway nodded, “I understand that. But if this puts us at odds with the Olruvians-”

Kes cleared her throat and looked at the captain, her shoulders squaring a little as she addressed her superior:

“Captain, I need to take Tom and B’Elanna back to sickbay, surely this can wait?”

“Yes, of course,” Janeway said, and she nodded again. She looked at Seven and raised an eyebrow, “Seven, meet me in my office as soon as possible, I’ll need you to report what happened to the Olruvians.”

“Yes, captain,” Seven said. 

The captain waved a hand to dismiss them all as she stepped away, turning on her heel and heading for the door. 

“Come on, then,” Kes said, her voice light and a small smile on her lips as she gestured for them to follow her, “B’Elanna, you’ve got a concussion we should see to immediately. Tom, I’m sure the Doctor is going to want full scans of your biometrics to see what exactly happened to you.”

Seven had loosened her grip on B’Elanna in the last few minutes, during the tense conversation with the captain. She stepped closer as Kes started walking, meaning to continue assisting B’Elanna as she walked, but the shorter woman pushed past her, shaking off her assistance with a slight stumble.

“I know how to walk,” B’Elanna snapped, her eyes forward as she walked (a little wobbly, but nonetheless under her own power). 

Seven nodded, folding her hands behind her back as she walked behind B’Elanna. She tried not to acknowledge the harshness in B’Elanna’s tone, or the way it cut through her so quickly and easily. 

She knew that the captain’s words were probably just bothering the engineer. Despite the fact that Captain Janeway was rightfully upset that B’Elanna had disobeyed orders, Seven also recognized that what B’Elanna had done was motivated by nonmalicious intentions. 

But sometimes… Sometimes B’Elanna just jumped with her emotions. 

***

B’Elanna settled into her sickbay bed, even though her back was stiff and her blood felt about three seconds from boiling. 

Here she was with a concussion, Tom had gotten his insides zapped by a magic rock wall, and what did Janeway care about? Relations with the locals. Typical. 

She rolled her shoulders and closed her eyes, grateful for the relief the darkness behind her eyelids afforded.

Just a few feet away, she could hear Kes giggle at something Tom had said. Their voices were too low to pick out any particular words, but B'Elanna riled at the sound.

Her eyes snapped open again and she opened her mouth to snap something out, but she was cut off by the EMH as he stepped up to her bed and shoved a scanner in her face.

"We'll have you back on your feet in no time, Lieutenant Torres, don't you worry."

B'Elanna leaned away from the Doctor's scanner, frowning.

"I wasn't worried, it's not like this is the first time I've had a concussion" she muttered, only half-minded as she tilted her head to see past the Doctor, where Kes was attending to Tom's injuries.

The EMH made a small, "uh huh," noise in the back of his throat before he continued:

"You're extremely lucky. Were it not for your thicker Klingon skull plates, you may have suffered much greater injuries."

B'Elanna was still watching Tom and Kes, her face twisting in a slight scowl as Kes laughed again, Tom smiling at her with a spark in his eye.

"Klingon hard-headedness has its uses," B'Elanna grumbled, as the Doctor moved around her to grab his equipment.

As soon as the EMH had walked away, B'Elanna sighed and sat back on her bed, glaring at the ceiling as she made a pointed statement to the room:

"God, Tom, keep it in your pants."

She heard the conversation stop beside her, but she still didn't turn to look.

"Excuse me?" Tom asked, his tone incredulous.

B'Elanna scoffed, "I mean, it's one thing to move on to a younger woman," she said, and at last turned her head to raise her eyebrows at Tom, her jaw tight and her chin jutted in challenge, "But _Kes_? Really, Tom?"

Tom had turned bright red, and beside his bed Kes and Harry were looking equally as embarrassed.

Except Tom didn't just look embarrassed. There was the harshness of anger in his tone as he spoke:

"You need to back down, B'Elanna, I mean it."

B'Elanna snorted, and she could see her laughter had the desired effect of bristling Tom even further.

"What's the matter? Are you just being friendly, Paris? No ulterior motives whatsoever?"

Tom started to push himself out of the medbay bed, but Harry's hand on his shoulder stopped him. He shook his head at her, huffing out an angry sigh.

"Do we have a problem, B'Elanna? Because last I checked, you stopped giving a shit about anything to do with me about five months ago."

His words hit her in the chest like a phaser blast and she bit back everything she wanted to say to him.

She still _cared_ about him. Maybe not romantically, but _goddamnit_ she did still care. Caring about him and being so _angry_ every time she saw him was the very thing that had shredded her apart every day for the past five months.

Instead of any of that, though, she shook her head, looking away with an angry mutter.

"No. We don't have a problem. Just stop flirting with Kes, it's weird."

"I was not_ flirting_!"

"She is _six_!"

Tom leaned back in his seat, pinching the bridge of his nose, "That's why I _wasn't flirting_, B'Elanna."

B'Elanna rolled her eyes, "Yeah, sure, Tom, whatever you say."

He opened his mouth to say something else, but the EMH materialized in between them, his hands on his hips as he looked between them with a level gaze.

"Mr. Paris, I believe that I am finished with you. You may go now, I have another patient to attend to."

Tom sighed, "But I-"

The Doctor held up his hand to stop him before he could continue, "Remember to drink some water, eat some protein, and take it easy the rest of the day whilst you recover, Mr. Paris."

Tom got to his feet woodenly and stalked toward the door, Harry right behind him. But before leaving, Tom stopped and halfway turned to look at B'Elanna.

"You always make everything about you, don't you, B'Elanna?"

She gave him a sarcastic smile, "Said the pot to the kettle."

He once again opened his mouth to speak, but this time it was Harry who cut in, speaking quickly and gently nudging him with a hand on his shoulder:

"Let it go, Tom."

Tom followed the instructions with some hesitance, while Harry hung back until the door had closed between Tom and the medbay.

B'Elanna snorted, shaking her head and looking at Harry.

"Can you believe him?" she asked.

Harry's expression hardened in a way B'Elanna had never seen before and he shook his head, brushing his hands through the air dismissively as he backed out of the room, his voice strained with barely-hidden upset:

"You know, B'Elanna, sometimes you can be _really _stupid?"

She frowned at him as he disappeared through the door, staring after him long after he was gone, her mind utterly blank.

The _hell_ did that mean?

She glanced toward Kes and the EMH. Kes wouldn't meet her eyes and B'Elanna could just _tell_ from the hunch of the young woman's shoulders that she was upset. 

"B'Elanna."

Seven's voice was so unexpected it made B'Elanna start with surprise. In the rush and dizziness of entering sickbay (not to mention the argument with Tom), she'd utterly forgotten that the Borg had followed them there. 

But she _was_ there. Standing near the wall a few meters from B'elanna's bed, quietly taking in the scene.

B'Elanna grimaced at the thought of Seven witnessing _everything_ that had just occurred.

"Uh, yeah, what, Seven?" B'Elanna asked, too emotionally exhausted right then to even bother snapping the words out.

Seven’s eyebrow arched upward, seeming surprised at the gentleness in B’Elanna’s tone. 

“I wanted to talk to you about what happened in the cave.”

B’Elanna winced her eyes shut and grumbled, “Oh, good, another lecture.”

Seven stepped closer, studying B’Elanna’s face for a moment, “You said the wall shocked you.”

B’Elanna nodded, “Yep, but it’s probably just what I get for disobeying orders, right?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Seven murmured, glancing over to where the EMH and Kes were working, “Although it does make me wonder what other attributes the caves have that the Olruvians did not warn us about.”

B’Elanna looked at Seven with surprise, her brows furrowing a little in confusion, “Are you saying they’re hiding something from us?”

Seven shrugged, and for a moment B’Elanna thought she would move closer, her eyes catching B’Elanna’s in their gaze. 

“I believe that the Olruvians have not been completely forthcoming about the caves and their properties.”

Before B’Elanna could say anything else, the Borg straightened and gave her a curt nod, continuing in a more businesslike tone:

“I must go and make my report to Captain Janeway, I…”

And here Seven faltered a little, her face softening.

“I am glad you’re alright, B’Elanna.”

Then she turned on her heel and left the medbay, leaving B’Elanna sitting, baffled and still swimming through her thoughts. 

She groaned and leaned back in the medical bed, closing her eyes. 

There were a lot of people mad at her. She felt it like a great big weight on her chest, and she didn’t know what she could do to fix it all. 

***

Seven’s meeting with the captain had not left her feeling hopeful about Voyager’s relations with the Olruvians. 

Although they had not incurred any consequences (the Olruvians were still willing to let them study the caves), all of their questions about the properties of the stones had been sidestepped and avoided. 

Mostly, Seven was relieved to hear that B’Elanna was not in trouble. At least not with the Olruvians. Captain Janeway was another story altogether, Seven could tell that the other woman was concerned that B’Elanna’s recklessness would lead to other problems. 

Seven didn’t trust herself to defend B’Elanna logically, as her sense of logic and truth seemed rather fallible when it came to the engineer. And flagrant emotionalism wouldn’t help matters any. 

It was with all this in mind that Seven walked to corridor on her way to Kes’s quarters, her feet traveling the path even if her mind was absently chasing down her thoughts. She stopped in front of Kes’s door and pressed the chime, and Kes answered within moments. 

The Ocampa opened the door with a smile and waved Seven in. 

“Good evening, Seven,” Kes said cheerily, leading Seven over to the couch as the door closed behind them, “How are you?” 

Seven dipped her head a little, “I am well,” she said, hesitating a moment before she added, in an undertone, “I’m surprised to find you so relaxed after the events in sickbay.”

Kes sighed out a breath, sitting down on the couch and tucking her feet up underneath her. She shrugged and waved a hand semi-dismissively.

“I… It wasn’t B’Elanna’s fault.”

Seven raised her eyebrows at Kes’s faltering answer. She sat down next to Kes on the couch and levelled her gaze on the shorter woman:

“Elaborate.”

Kes gave Seven a look, a tiny smirk in place as she stayed expectantly silent. 

Seven cleared her throat, realizing herself and changing her words.

“I mean… please explain what you mean by that, Kes.”

Kes nodded with satisfaction, nudging Seven with a teasing elbow, “Don’t worry, you’ll get past the Borg programming a little more every day.”

Seven looked away, huffing, “It is not my fault that humans prefer inefficient language.”

Kes shrugged again, chucking, “Some of them don’t. But usually for friendly conversation, a little fluff can’t hurt.”

“So, what do you mean that it wasn’t B’Elanna’s fault?” Seven asked, steering the conversation back to the original topic. 

“I mean, after the talk the captain gave her, after she had a _rock_ fall on her head, after the kind of day she’d had…” Kes tilted her head, “She was going to snap at somebody. And that somebody happened to be Tom because right now he’s the easiest target.”

Seven frowned, “Because she is still angry that they broke off their relationship?”

Kes nodded, “In a way she is, yeah.” 

Seven thought a moment, her gaze sliding down to look idly at the implants on her hand.

“Did it bother you that she suggested you would not be a suitable companion for Tom?”

A sharp snort of laughter escaped Kes before she could stifle it, and she shook her head, smiling knowingly, “I’m _not_ a suitable companion for Tom. He and I both know that, but it’s not just about my age. There are other… factors.”

Kes seemed hesitant to elaborate, so Seven didn’t press her. Instead, she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.

“What will we be studying tonight?” she asked.

Kes grinned excitedly and hopped to her feet, rushing to the other side of the room to grab a couple datapads from her desk. 

“Simone de Beauvior, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Mortake Bevris III!”

Seven smiled at Kes’s enthusiasm and tried to put the worries of the day behind her, despite the way her mind kept conjuring the image of B’Elanna falling. Her limp body hitting the dark stone over and over again behind Seven’s eyelids, every time she blinked, until Seven would have rather shut down. Entered her alcove for the night and purge the image from her mind for a time, rather than stay and continue her lessons in humanity.

**Author's Note:**

> Chapters 2 and 3 coming soon!!


End file.
